Michael Avenatti's bring-a-bazooka-to-a-gun-fight approach to Donald Trump has had some Democrats — well, Avenatti himself, primarily — fantasizing that the combative lawyer could make an attractive standard-bearer in 2020.

Give it up. Avenatti's 15 minutes, which lasted a few months, are up.

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First came the Julie Swetnick fiasco. In an NBC News interview, Swetnick — whom Avenatti introduced to the public with wild claims that she saw Brett Kavanaugh spiking girls' drinks in high school "gang rape" parties — contradicted her sworn affidavit, giving Republicans a perfect excuse to doubt far more credible Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford. Avenatti's supposed corroborating witness also contradicted Swetnick.

And Avenatti lost a back-pay case to a lawyer in his former firm to the tune of $4.85 million.

Avenatti's political instincts are pretty poor, too. He told Time magazine that Democrats ought to nominate a white male because their arguments "carry more weight" — not an ideal message for a diverse party dependent upon the votes of women and minorities.